Santa Fe Institute's video: Andromeda Strain and Meaning of Life: Part 4 with Kate Adamala and Sara Walker

COVID-19's continued threat makes hosting our annual InterPlanetary Festival near impossible. In lieu of in-person panel discussions and sci-fi film screenings, SFI's InterPlanetary Project will explore the Planetary Life Support System "Astrobiology and Life Detection" in a mini-series called "Andromeda Strain and the Meaning of Life." SFI President, David Krakauer, kicks this series off by discussing some of the challenging questions at the center of origins of life research that emerge in Michael Crichton's "Andromeda Strain." What can a science-fiction film about an invasive, alien virus tell us about life, on earth and beyond? He and Chris Kempes approached some of those themes in episode two. Last week Chris Kempes discussed synthetic life with synthetic biologist Kate Adamala. This week Kate converses with theoretical physicist, astrobiologist, and SFI External Professor Sara Imari Walker about information replication, and potential independent origins of life, whether in the lab or on an exoplanet. 0:00 How would you send a deadly virus across the galaxy? 1:48 Can you separate life from its geochemistry? 3:11 Ethical questions around terraforming other planets 6:04 As a planetary civilization, should we give ourselves a break? 7:58 Is it possible to migrate biochemistry between planets? 9:18 Do we expect life on other planets to differ widely from our life, given its different chemistry? 12:01 Sending an ecosystem instead of an individual 13:27 How do we make Earth reproducible? 17:37 Seeding technological instead of biological life throughout the galaxy. And what’s the difference? 18:44 What do we mean by “Origin” of life? 23:52 Understanding life from the perspective of information 25:59 The possibility of an extraterrestrial independent origin of life 28:02 What is life? 29:31 Exoplanet searches for life and the possibility space for life 31:49 Reconciling theory and experimentation 33:33 How easily could we seed life beyond our own solar system? 35:19 What are the boundaries of a biosphere? How many types of life can one planet support? 39:59 Conclusion Each week, we'll host a conversation between experts on this subject. Tune in next Thursday for a follow-up between Sara Imari Walker and Lee Cronin. Future confirmed panelists include Pete Worden and Jeremy England. Learn more about SFI's InterPlanetary Project at https://santafe.edu/interplanetary/mi... Learn more about SFI's Origins of Life research at https://santafe.edu/research/projects... Watch a trailer for Andromeda Strain at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMbSp... Learn more at https://santafe.edu Follow us on social media: https://twitter.com/sfiscience https://instagram.com/sfiscience https://facebook.com/santafeinstitute https://facebook.com/groups/santafeinstitute https://linkedin.com/company/santafeinstitute